Standpipe customers of Golden Valley Improvement District have new payment mechanism

Golden Valley resident Michael Basile prepares to fill three water cubes on his trailer at GVID Standpipe 1 at Bolsa Drive and Estrella Road in Golden Valley. Basile, who hauls 812 gallons of water at a time, is one of the 454 residents (both in-district and out-of-district) who use the standpipe operation to fill their tanks.

GOLDEN VALLEY – How water-haul customers pay for water at Golden Valley Improvement District (GVID) Standpipe No. 1, located at Bolsa Drive and Estrella Road, will be changing.

All water cards currently in the possession of residents for both the residential and commercial sides, will no longer be honored at Standpipe No. 1 after Jan. 12.

However, customers at Standpipe 2 at 3525 N. Laguna Road and Standpipe 3 at 4937 N. Laguna Road, will continue to receive their water via the old payment system with their current water cards. Furthermore, coins will continue to be accepted at Standpipe 2 for the purchase of water.

Standpipe 1’s change entails only the new payment mechanism, which will be electronic and is driven by customers’ choices to use either a credit card, debit card or charge to their new GVID account. According to county officials, water-haul customers who utilize the new system at Bolsa and Estrella with credit cards and debit cards will be charged a processing fee of 2.5 percent plus 10 cents per transaction. This represents the standard, fixed transaction commission rendered by the third-party operator of the electronic payment processing system. Neither the county nor GVID receive any profit or loss from transaction commissions, which are a direct pass through charge.

“If residents want to have an account in which they are not charged the processing and transaction fee,” Mohave County Public Works Director Steven Latoski said, “they can come into the GVID Customer Service/Billing Office located at 3715 Sunshine Drive in Kingman to sign up for the new system. Once customers sign up for the new payment system, they will be given a new PIN number to use at Standpipe 1 and will receive monthly invoices generated and distributed by GVID.”

This change in the new billing system mechanism includes those customers of Standpipes 2 and 3 and all out-of-district customers who may want to receive water at Standpipe 1 after Jan. 12.

Standpipe 1 will be shut down Jan. 9 – 12, for the payment mechanism changes and for other maintenance upgrades. During this period, customers who currently utilize Standpipe 1 can use Standpipes 2 and 3 for their water needs and they will be able to do so with their current water cards.

The current water rates approved previously by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors for the various zones, areas, and standpipes throughout the district are: metered customers (those who receive water via a water pipeline supplied by GVID) – Tier 1, $15 plus 46 cents per 100 gallons (0 to 5,000 gallons); Tier 2, 53 cents per 100 gallons (5,000 to 10,000 gallons); and Tier 3, 79 cents per 100 gallons (10,000 gallons and above). The cost of water for commercial and residential standpipe water-haul customers are 37 cents per 100 gallons for in-district customers and 56 cents per 100 gallons for out-of-district customers.

According to Mohave County Water Operations officials, they will have water department employees at Standpipe 1 during the initial installation phase of the new system to answer questions and to assist residents with the way residents pay for water.

“There are no current plans to change the way customers currently get water at Standpipes 2 and 3,” Latoski said. “If GVID officials decide in the future to convert Standpipes 2 and 3 to credit and debit cards or the new payment system account, all residents currently holding water cards will be notified by mail.”

All customers currently on the metered water-pipeline system will continue to receive their water uninterrupted and will receive their monthly statements via the U.S. Mail.